


Semper Ad Meliora

by artjjun



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Demons, Alternate Universe - High School, Attempt at Humor, BTS and Their DILF Energy, Choi Soobin-Centric, Choi Yeonjun Is Bad At Feelings, Demon Choi Soobin, Demon Hunter Choi Yeonjun, Enemies to Lovers, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Plot, Siblings Choi Beomgyu & Choi Soobin, Supernatural Elements, author is yeonjun biased and it shows, soobin: mark me down as scared AND horny, technically they're cousins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-14 13:13:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29046696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artjjun/pseuds/artjjun
Summary: Imagine you're Choi Soobin and you've lived seventeen perfectly ordinary years, until one day you have a near-death experience. You walk away from it unscathed, but everything that follows after is a complete shitshow. You meet a very attractive boy who hunts demons for a living, discover that you are, in fact, half-demon and also that you are the determining factor for the fate of the mortal world as we know it.Imagine you’re Choi Soobin, who is just ultimately tired and would very much like to get through his last year of high school without starting a war between heaven and hell._Alternatively titled, "Choi Soobin's Guide to Overcoming Hurdles as the Son of Satan."
Relationships: Choi Soobin/Choi Yeonjun, Huening Kai/Kang Taehyun, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 27
Kudos: 78





	1. Look Both Ways Before You Cross the Street

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, reader. This is my first attempt at a multi-chaptered fic and at a supernatural au that I don't completely hate. I will try to keep this story relatively lighthearted but it will get into some heavy topics and more graphic content as the story progresses, because - demons. I will also try to update regularly... ish.  
> Without further ado, here is the first chapter.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: This story is entirely fictional and the characters and relationships I have written are not at all meant to be reflective of the very real people I have based them on.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A day in the life of Choi Soobin.

Choi Soobin Fact #1: He has nightmares.

Soobin wakes with his heart hammering away in his chest and with the fabric of his T-shirt sticking uncomfortably to his sweaty back. He exhales shakily, rubbing both his hands over his face in a desperate attempt to remind himself that it was just a nightmare. _Just a nightmare_.

“Hyung!”

Beomgyu stands at the door, already halfway dressed in his school uniform and mop of brown hair combed neatly. His usual bright-eyed expression, however, is replaced by a slight frown. Head still planted firmly on his pillow, Soobin raises his phone from his nightstand and squints at the screen.

“Why are you up so early?”

“It’s Monday morning,” Beomgyu deadpans, fixing his school tie. “We have to be at school in an hour. Lea and Kai are already on their way.”

“Oh,” Soobin says eloquently, staring at the _Monday_ written right beneath the 7:40 on his screen. “Right.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah.” Soobin sits up, scratching behind his ear. “Yeah. Why?”

Beomgyu shrugs. “You just look… pale. Did you have a nightmare again?”

“I’m fine,” Soobin reassures him, but it comes out sounding more like he’s trying to reassure himself. “But yeah. I did. I’m fine, though.”

“You’ve been having them a lot lately,” Beomgyu presses on, taking a few steps forward. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Soobin chuckles then, finding his brother’s genuine concern endearing. “Very sure. Now, what’s for breakfast?”

Beomgyu doesn’t quite seem unconvinced, but he doesn’t press on. “Mom made kimchi fried rice before she left for work.” His taut expression is replaced by a cheeky smile. “Just between you and me, though, it’s not very good.”

Soobin snorts, tearing his covers off. “I’ll be right out.”

“I can’t believe Kai is in high school already.”

Soobin follows his brother’s line of sight to see one Kai Kamal Huening walking towards them with his lunch tray in one hand and the strap of his backpack gripped tight in the other.

“I miss when he used to be shorter than me,” Beomgyu sighs. “Wherever has the time gone?”

Soobin snickers. “Is that what this is about?”

“No, Beomgyu’s right,” Lea pipes in. “I remember when I used to tower over him in middle school. Now– “

“He’s a giant,” Beomgyu finishes and takes an aggressive sip of his apple juice. Lea nods in silent agreement.

“Hi, hyungs! Noona,” Kai greets them enthusiastically once he reaches their lunch table, slinging his backpack off and taking his seat beside Soobin, opposite Beomgyu and Lea.

“Hey, Kai,” Soobin says. “You’re a bit late today.”

“Yeah, Mr. Jang kept us for an extra three minutes because three people couldn’t answer his question about the left-hand rule,” Kai says and takes his first spoonful of rice.

“I’m so glad I'm in my final year now,” Lea sighs, scraping the bottom of her yogurt cup. “Soobin and I barely survived his reign of terror.”

After that, they trailed off into light conversation while enjoying their lunches. While spectating Beomgyu and Lea’s heated discussion on a drama they both enjoy, Soobin realized that the youngest of them had gone very quiet beside him, seemingly distracted by something else. He’s staring straight ahead, and rather focused on whatever it is he has his eyes on.

Or rather, _who_ ever it is he has his eyes on. Soobin smirks as he follows Kai’s line of sight. The table in front of theirs is empty, the group of girls sitting there having left some minutes ago, but at the table across that is a young boy with a head of bleached blond hair sitting by himself at a table, leaned over a book and his left hand holding a pair of chopsticks hovered above his lunch. The boy is the Engimatic First-Year Kang Taehyun, subject of Kai’s affections, as Soobin had learned from the many times he’s caught the younger Huening’s absolutely transfixed gaze on the blond and all the times his cheeks colored when Taehyun would so much as _brush_ past him.

But perhaps what makes him stand out from the rest of the student body is the medical eyepatch over his left eye. No one knows why he wears it, but it had become his defining feature.

Soobin nudged at the younger’s shoulder with his own – snapping him out of his trance. “Staring at Kang Taehyun again?”

Kai sputters, which effectively answers his question. “I was not!”

“You totally were. Look at your ears! They’re red!”

Lea sniggers. “Oh, give him a break, Soobin. I mean, when is he _not_ staring at the boy?”

Kai’s hands had flown up to his reddened ears to cup them away from sight, but the flush across his cheeks is still very much present as he hisses, “I’m allowed to be curious about people!”

Beomgyu decides to join in, an amused grin already plastered on his face. “Your curiosity is pretty intense. Tell me, do you usually blush this much at the mention of people you’re just ‘curious’ about?”

“Shut up, hyung, he’ll hear you!”

“With all this noise? And this distance?”

“Kai and Taehyun sitting in a tree,” Soobin begins singing, just to be a brat. In an attempt to silence the older, Kai claps a hand over his mouth, but clearly does not consider the fact that Soobin’s generally pesky self would lick his palm. With a disgusted yelp and a scandalized expression, Kai draws his hand away.

“You’re so gross!”

Soobin throws his head back in hearty laughter.

Choi Soobin Fact #2: He usually goes home by himself.

Before high school, Soobin had always gone home with his brother, but that was before Beomgyu joined the school band as their guitarist. The Huenings, on the other hand, have their dad picking them up from school every day. Soobin doesn’t mind going home alone, truthfully. He’s always enjoyed peace and quiet both of which he rarely gets to appreciate, living in the same house with Beomgyu and all.

As he makes his way past the front gate, he shoots the younger a text.

**me**

going home now

want me to pick up anything otw?

**Beomgyu**

COLA

and some ramen

**me**

okayy

And so, four minutes of walking later, Soobin finds himself standing in front of the register at the convenience store a few blocks away from their school and possibly the most intimidating-looking but also the friendliest convenience store worker he’s ever had the pleasure of knowing. Said worker’s name is Jeon Jungkook, as written on his nametag in dark block letters, and Jungkook has long black hair that he usually has tied up in a messy ponytail and a full sleeve of tattoos on his right arm, one of which is a huge red eye that Beomgyu always compliments whenever they see him (Soobin is pretty sure his brother has a slight puppy crush on the man).

“Gyu has band practice today, right?” Jungkook asks as he scans a pack of spicy ramyeon.

Soobin nods with a smile. “As usual.”

“Why don’t you also join?”

Soobin shakes his head good-naturedly. “No musical talents on my end. Unless you count being really kickass at karaoke.”

Jungkook snickers. “Why not get vocal lessons? Maybe become an idol trainee.”

“Me? An idol?” Soobin chuckles. “Maybe in another life.”

“Hey, you’ve got the looks for it. That’ll be 26,000, by the way.”

Soobin flushes at the sudden compliment and fumbles for his wallet in his backpack, which he always wears at his front (something Beomgyu continues to make fun of him for), as the tattooed worker bagged up his purchases. After handing Jungkook the money, he notices two people walk through the door – one of whom has an eyepatch on. Kang Taehyun.

The boy seems to recognize him as well, dipping his head into a slight bow when he spots Soobin. The other is –

 _Beautiful_.

He’s young – can’t be much older than either he or Taehyun, but he’s taller than the latter. He has dark black hair that falls past his nape in an attractive mullet (and Soobin has seen very few people who can pull off _mullets_ ), foxlike eyes and _incredibly_ plush lips that Soobin has a lot of trouble trying to tear his gaze away from.

“Spotted one,” he declares, and _wow, even his voice is attractive_ , Soobin thinks as he feels a heat creeping up his neck.

The cordial smile has slipped off Jungkook’s face, and he was instead looking back at the beautiful stranger with a grave stare. He tips his head to the side and the stranger stalks off hurriedly in that direction, past all the aisles and behind a door Soobin has always assumed was the staff room. Kang Taehyun follows him with quick strides.

When Soobin hands Jungkook the money, he can’t help but ask. “Does Taehyun work here?”

“Oh, right, you go to the same school,” Jungkook mutters. “And no, he doesn’t. He’s my brother. He doesn’t cause any trouble at school, does he?”

Soobin almost laughs at the mere thought. “No. The opposite, actually.”

“Does anyone bother him?”

“Not really. I think everyone tends to leave him alone for the most part.”

As soon as the words leave his mouth, Soobin realizes just how wrong they sound. No matter how true it may be, the way he had said it made Taehyun sound like some sort of social pariah when it’s simply that the boy himself was always reserved and kept to himself, and that everyone let him. But before he can explain himself, Jungkook nods with a taut smile. “That’s nice to hear.”

The man hands him his change, signaling the end of their short conversation, but Soobin still has that small voice in the back of his head nagging at him to ask about the other boy who was with Taehyun. _Who was that? Why did they go into that room? Is he sing-_

“Thank you, hyung. I’ll see you later,” he rushes instead with a light bow, and is just about getting ready to leave when Jungkook speaks up.

“Be careful out there.”

A simple warning that shouldn’t feel so foreboding, and yet, when Soobin turns around to look at Jungkook, the man’s gaze is dour.

Soobin walks out of the store with unease pooling at the pit of his stomach.

He takes his slow trek home, overwhelmed by one too many thoughts of Jungkook and their strange exchange back at the store and the beautiful stranger, whose dark eyes and full lips would surely haunt him for the rest of the evening.

The thing about Soobin is that he tends to do that – let his thoughts overtake him. There have been far too many times that Beomgyu has had to snap his fingers in front of his face to snap the taller out of his reverie or when his teachers would have to yell his name for even the neighboring classes to hear to garner his attention. When he thinks, he drifts and he drowns and disconnects from the rest of the world around him.

But he does hear the crinkle of plastic and a thud. When he looks down, he sees that Beomgyu's cola bottle has fallen out from the plastic bag he finally notices he had been holding loosely by only one of its straps.

“Shit,” he curses in a whisper as the bottle rolls away. He chases after it with quick steps.

He only hears the honk of the car when he feels the pain in his side.

And then, darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmk what you think...?


	2. Dominate a Game of Dodgeball

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You're alive!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I already have the second and third chapters written so I thought, why not post them? Mind you, updates will be much slower in the future and for that, I apologize in prior.

Choi Soobin Fact #3: He has the same nightmare every time.

He’s standing in pitch black.

It’s black _everywhere_ , for as far as Soobin can see, and he would think he was still asleep if not for the low inhumane chuckle echoing through the unending darkness. Soobin whirls around desperately in search of the owner of the voice, calls out to them.

“Come out!”

But they don’t. They never do. They keep laughing, as if taunting him.

When his surroundings are flooded with light, he’s standing in an elevator.

It’s a normal elevator, but one that Soobin is pretty sure he’s never been in before in real life. There are 5 numbered buttons on the controls, one emergency stop button, and a panel that shows the number 4 in red.

An arrow shows up next to the 5 not long after, moving steadily downwards only to disappear and be replaced by another arrow as Soobin begins descending. The 4 turns into a 3 after a few seconds, and 3 turns into a 2.

Soobin waits with his back against the wall as he goes down.

He waits for the 2 to change into a 1. The arrows are still moving. He’s still going down.

He counts to ten, then to a hundred. Going down.

But the number doesn’t change. The 3 stares back at him mockingly, so Soobin reaches for the stop button. Only to find that it’s no longer there.

The dream usually ends there. Soobin panics when he doesn’t find the stop button, and then his eyes are supposed to snap open and he’s supposed to wake up to the smell of coffee wafting through his ajar bedroom door all the way from the kitchen.

But Soobin doesn’t wake up this time.

He waits. Anytime now, he should wake up. But the number 2 stays unchanging and he doesn’t wake up either. The panic begins to settle into his stomach. He doesn’t realize when or how exactly, but at some point he begins yelling, crying out pleas and banging on the metal doors (and swears with each pound, the ache in his fists feel a little too real). He presses at every button he sees on the control panel, hoping desperately it might stop the elevator from going down to wherever it was taking him, but it doesn’t stop. He’s still going down – he knows because the arrows are still moving down and because you can always just _tell_.

“HELP!” Soobin screams, pounding on the doors. “Can anyone hear me?”

_It’s no use_ , a voice says – the same voice from the beginning of the nightmare. That low, fleeting voice that didn’t sound like it was of the world Soobin knows. Time seems to pause.

_No one’s going to hear you. It’s just you and me._ There’s a snicker. _Going down._

Soobin realizes the voice is coming from behind him, so he whips around to confront this… this entity. He prepares himself for the worst – perhaps a monstrous being, with a forked tongue and red beady eyes, or a formless shadow that would tower over him and consume him whole.

What he finds instead is a mirror and his reflection staring back at him, and that, for some reason, is much more terrifying.

Because it’s him in the mirror, but at the same time it _isn’t_. The “Soobin” on that other side of the mirror has eyes that are bottomless pits of black and a diabolical sneer on his face that makes Soobin stagger back with his mouth falling open in a silent scream.

_Surprise_. The elevator halts with a loud ding.

Soobin’s eyes snap open to a white ceiling.

“He’s awake,” he hears a voice say. It’s familiar. “Mom, he’s awake!”

He blinks a few times, trying to adjust his eyes to the brightness of the room he was in. There’s a dull ache in his head and he hears faint but hurried footfalls.

“Hello,” someone says. Leaning over him is a man wearing a doctor’s coat. _Am I at a hospital?_

“Hi?”

The man holds up three fingers. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Three.”

The man hums. “Very good. What’s your name?”

“Choi Soobin.”

“You’re at the hospital right now, Soobin,” the man says with a gentle smile, confirming Soobin’s suspicions. Through bleary eyes, he makes out the name on the ID card clipped to the man’s white coat. _Kim Namjoon_. “How are you feeling?”

Still slightly disoriented, Soobin just makes a low noise and hopes it counts as a proper response. The doctor gives him one last dimpled smile before stalking off and leading away a sniffling woman who must be his aunt.

And on his side is Beomgyu, whose eyes are glassy.

“You scared us so much,” he says with wobbly lips when Soobin’s eyes finally land on him. The latter feels the younger’s hand gently close over his own. He smiles.

“I was just having a bad dream.”

Choi Soobin Fact #4: He walked out of a car accident without so much as a scrape on his skin.

How that could have possibly been, Soobin doesn’t know either. He was discharged yesterday, and he’s already dressed for school.

“And they didn’t even check on you! Can you believe it? What if you were badly hurt?”

As Aunt Aerin continued her heated ramble about the driver who had apparently hit Soobin and booked it, Soobin is reminded once more that the woman is truly a force to be reckoned with when it comes to him and Beomgyu. Reminiscent of the days when she would heatedly tell Soobin that the boy who had stolen his crayons in class was no good and that he should tell their teacher next time, he feels the corners of his lips quirking up into a smile. Beomgyu also chuckles from across the table.

“But I wasn’t,” Soobin says, taking a sip of his morning coffee.

“I know, but I still can’t help but worry,” his aunt sighs, flipping a pancake onto a plate. “I mean, you were unconscious for two days!”

“It was just a concussion.”

“Speaking of which, are you sure you should be going back to school this early?” Beomgyu fixes Soobin with a look of concern. “You know we told the school about your accident, right?”

“I know,” Soobin drawls playfully. “And I’m fine, really. I know I was kind of loopy before but I’m pretty sure that was just because I was hopped up on drugs. I’m alright now. Better than, even.”

Beomgyu’s mother sighs. “If you say so.”

Lea and Kai tackle him the second he steps out of his front door.

“Hey, hey, hey, stop crowding him,” Beomgyu yells at the siblings, but the expression on his face is nothing but fond. “He didn’t get hit by a car and walk away unharmed just for you idiots to suffocate him to death.”

“He’ll be fine, Gyu-hyung,” Kai giggles, but nonetheless loosens his grip on Soobin. “Soobin-hyung is indestructible. Plus, he has me by his side to protect him at all costs.”

Lea scoffs. “More like speed up his aging process. Getting hit by a car was probably less stressful than some of the stuff you’ve put him through.”

_Ah, yes_ , Soobin thinks giddily. What would he do without his friends?

Some of his classmates come by to ask him if he’s feeling okay, all of whom he replies to with a nod yes and a smile.

And surprisingly, he’s not lying.

The thing is, Soobin was hit by a _car_. He was unconscious for two days, during which he had the worst nightmare he’s had in forever’s time and by all means, he should be on crutches or, at the very least, sporting a killer headache.

But instead, he feels… _amazing_.

There’s no other way to put it. There’s a spring in his step that Beomgyu comments on twice on their walk to the cafeteria and a glow in his cheeks that he takes note of whenever he passes by his reflection on one of the classroom windows. Every part of him just feels _alive_.

He asks for an extra serving at lunch.

“Slow down, you’re going to choke at this rate,” Beomgyu grimaces, watching Soobin wolf down his lunch.

“I can’t help it,” Soobin says through full cheeks. “I’m really hungry.”

“I know you’ve always had an appetite but _wow_ , hyung,” Kai chuckles.

Lea joins in on the teasing. “Maybe he’s been possessed by a demon.”

Soobin rolls his eyes. “Haha, very funny. Can you go back to being concerned about me? I preferred that Lea.”

“Nope,” Lea says cheekily, popping the ‘p’. “I wasn’t able to make fun of you during the three days you were gone, so I need to make up for it – “

“How– “

“Huening Kai-ssi?”

Four heads simultaneously whip around to see a blond boy with an eyepatch standing beside their table, holding a binder. It takes Kai a moment to react to his own name, but when he does, he shoots up out of his seat with a loud “yes” and nearly topples his lunch over.

“I’m sorry for interrupting.” Taehyun’s gaze flits over to the three seniors, whose eyes are wide and prying. “But here’s my number.”

He pulls out a piece of paper from his binder and hands it to Kai, who stares at it open-mouthed for a few seconds until he finally blinks himself out of his trance and takes it with carefully polite hands. Soobin, Beomgyu and Lea share a knowing look amongst themselves.

“I’m usually busy even after school,” Taehyun says, “but I’ll try to pick up if you call.”

Kai only nods with his mouth still gaping open.

“Right, well,” Taehyun turns to the three still seated at the table and dips his head in a small bow. He turns back to Kai with a stiff smile. “Enjoy your lunch, Huening-ssi.”

Kai, once again, only nods.

It’s only when Taehyun has walked away that he plops back down onto his seat, still looking thoroughly awestruck.

“You got his number?” Beomgyu and Lea cry simultaneously, drawing a few glances from some of the students in their vicinity. Kai, however, stays very still. For a second, Soobin wonders whether he’s having a stroke.

Finally, the boy breathes out. “Can someone pinch me?”

Soobin has always been one to comply.

“Ow!” Kai pulls away with a yelp, rubbing at his elbow where Soobin just pinched. “Hyung, you didn’t have to pinch that hard!”

“Hey, you asked,” the older shrugs. “And I’m pretty sure I didn’t pinch that hard.”

“Liar! It’s going to bruise for sure.”

“Can we go back to the part where Kai _got his crush’s number_?” Lea says the last part in a low hiss.

“Yeah. What the _fuck_ was that _?_ ” Beomgyu asks, eyes comically wide.

Kai sputters. “It’s not what you’re thinking!”

“Then, do enlighten us,” Soobin says.

“It’s for our History assignment,” Kai sighs, still rubbing at his elbow. _Did I pinch him that hard?_ Soobin wonders. “We’re supposed to do it in pairs. Taehyun’s my assigned partner.”

“And now you have his number,” Beomgyu simpers. “Look at you. Moving fast.”

Kai groans. “Can we not? He’s as uninterested in me as Soobin-hyung is in math.”

“But I’m good at math,” Soobin defends himself.

“You guys barely know each other and the first step is to change that,” Beomgyu says matter-of-factly, waving his spoon in the air like a wise old professor. “After that? Anything is possible.”

Lea rolls her eyes. “Right, because you’re such an expert on relationships. When was the last time you went on a date? Oh, that's right. _Never_."

Beomgyu snaps his teeth at her fingers when she tries to steal food off his plate.

Choi Soobin Fact #5: He absolutely loathes PE.

It is his least favorite subject at school, easily beating even _math_ for which Soobin has expressed his distaste on more than several occasions. For all his impressive height and seemingly functional limbs, Soobin has terrible stamina, even more terrible motor skills and all in all, “piss poor physical capabilities” as Beomgyu (who had been part of the boys’ soccer team before he had quit to join his band) likes to put it.

Unfortunately, Soobin’s last class of the day is PE. When he walks into the gym, along with all his classmates, Coach Sun beckons him over and tells him that he can sit today’s lesson out if he wants to, given the circumstances of his recent accident. Instead of rejoicing like he knows he would’ve had this occurred the week before, Soobin reassures the man that he can participate, because for some unknown reason, he feels good. He feels like partaking in arduous physical activities today.

He mentally questions his own decision five minutes into the class when Coach announces that the second and third years will be split into two teams for a game of dodgeball.

Beomgyu is put into the other team and gives him a reassuring ~~grimace~~ smile and a pat on his shoulder when he walks away from his side to join his team on the other side of the court. Soobin, realizing he had dug his own grave, sighs in surrender and takes his position. Right before the teacher blows the whistle, he thinks to himself that he plans to play as he always has; with little to no effort and by getting eliminated early, no matter how competitive his teammates may be, in a pathetic act to stop playing early.

Instead, he narrowly dodges the first ball with a speed he didn’t know he possessed.

Soobin doesn’t even have time to act surprised. Red balls come flying towards him from all directions and his teammates are running around him. Another ball comes whirling right towards his head and instead of hitting Soobin smack-dab in the face, it hits one of his teammates in the stomach after he ducks right out of its way.

It doesn’t end there. Several more balls come flying towards him (because as mean as it may be, literally everyone knows Soobin is – or _was_ – an easy target) but they all whizz right past him as he dodges them with ease. How, exactly? He’s not quite sure. But he does know one thing.

Every part of him is alight.

The number of players dwindle as the game progresses until eventually, it’s just him on his team and two people on the other. Hyunjin, from his class. And Beomgyu.

Soobin isn’t shocked to see his brother as one of the last members standing. Beomgyu, on the other hand, seems thoroughly shocked with the fact that _Soobin_ is the last one standing, and the older can’t exactly blame him. He’s just as shocked, if not more. Nonetheless, Beomgyu launches the ball towards him, as per the way the game is played. Soobin once again sidesteps it with ease. Hyungjin throws another ball towards him. He dodges that one, too.

His name is being chanted by his eliminated teammates in a steady mantra of _Choi Soobin, Choi Soobin, Choi Soobin_ and that, added with the adrenaline running in his veins from the sheer excitement of the game, makes Soobin feel invincible.

He picks up a ball, and staring right at Beomgyu, hurls it towards him.

His brother manages to dodge it by a hair’s breadth. Hyunjin, on the other hand, is not too fortunate.

He screams when the ball makes impact with his arm, and it’s a loud, guttural sound that wipes the smug grin off of Soobin’s face completely. Beomgyu, still looking shell-shocked and panting heavily, takes a moment to register that his teammate has fallen to the floor in pain. Coach Sun rushes to Hyunjin’s side. Soobin sprints towards the boy, as well.

“I’m so sorry, Hyunjin!” He cries when he reaches the boy, who is lying on his uninjured side, clutching at his shoulder and writhing in pain.

“You’re alright, Soobin. These things happen in dodgeball,” Coach says, but his brows are furrowed in worry as he tries to coax Hyunjin into sitting up. “Everyone, move out of the way! I need to get your classmate to the nurse.”

Soobin looks around and realizes that the rest of the class had gathered around them, exchanging hushed whispers and grimaces.

But Beomgyu’s gaze on Soobin is perhaps the sharpest.

“Are you Choi Soobin?” He asks later in the locker room, when the last of their classmates have filed out and it’s just the two of them. Soobin takes comfort in the fact that he’s still a dreadfully slow dresser, no matter how drastically his athletic prowess seems to have improved, even if his brother is standing in front of him with a scowl etched on his face.

“What?”

“Are you Choi Soobin?” Beomgyu repeats.

Soobin chuckles, but it comes out sounding shaky. “Of course I am, who else would I be?”

But Beomgyu doesn’t let up. “When is your birthday?”

Soobin rolls his eyes. “Really, Gyu?”

“When?” Beomgyu hisses, eyes narrowing.

Soobin sighs in surrender. “December 5th.”

“Who’s your favorite Harry Potter character?”

“Hermione.”

“What’s a prank you've pulled on me?”

Soobin knows the memory like the back of his hand. “When you were eight, I filled an empty vodka bottle with water and drank it right in front of you. You cried.”

“What's a prank _I've_ pulled on you?”

Soobin scowls. “You once stuck a page of some porn magazine into my math textbook and it landed me in detention.”

Beomgyu’s face relaxes visibly. Soobin snorts and closes his locker.

“Are you satisfied now?”

“Not until I know what the fuck that was back there,” Beomgyu says, eyes narrowing once more.

“I know what you’re talking about.” Soobin puts his jacket on and turns to his brother with a withering look. “But I really don’t know what to tell you.”

“You weren't... _you!_ ” Beomgyu yells. “Hyunjin got hurt. Like, actually, _seriously_ hurt.”

Soobin winces as the guilt settles in once more. “Do you think he’ll be okay?”

“Seungmin said he’s been taken to the ER.”

Soobin groans, leaning back on his locker door dejectedly.

“I really don’t know what overcame me, Gyu. I’ve never felt like that before. I wish I could tell you what happened back there, but even I don’t know the answer to your question.”

Beomgyu says nothing, just simply observing him with guarded eyes. Soobin looks away ruefully, and a few beats of silence pass between them.

“Can you imagine how fucked my face would be if I hadn’t managed to dodge that throw of yours?”

When Soobin turns to look at his brother, he has a slight quirk on his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soobin's nightmare was actually inspired by a story submitted to the Watcher series _Are you scared?_ – one of my favorite horror short stories out there!! There's just something so chilling about the concept of being trapped in an elevator and I wanted to incorporate that into the nightmare with a twist of my own.


	3. Kill Your Best Friend on an Ice Cream Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But it's okay because _technically_ , she was trying to kill someone first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't write fighting scenes... and to be honest, I'm not really satisfied with the way this chapter turned out but I'm always trying to improve so please bear with me

Choi Soobin Fact #6: He enjoys reading horror webtoons.

The small clock on his desk reads 6:17PM when he’s in the middle of reading a really good one that he’s been quite invested in for some time now. Beomgyu is snoring softly in his bed on the other side of their shared room, not even stirring when Soobin had accidentally knocked over a few of his textbooks while getting changed earlier. He had gotten a text from his aunt a few minutes ago in their family group chat that simply said **company dinner. don’t wait up for me!** which meant it would just be him and Beomgyu having dinner by themselves tonight.

Choi Soobin Fact #7: Despite being a fan of horror, he’s a scaredy cat.

He flinches a little when he hears the bell ring. Were Beomgyu awake, it definitely would’ve earned him a chuckle.

When he jogs to the front door, he’s a little surprised to see Lea through the peephole, standing straight-faced in nothing but a worn-out white t-shirt and a pair of black sweatpants, but nonetheless he opens the door for her.

“Hey,” she greets him with a smile.

“Hey,” Soobin returns. “You didn’t tell me you were coming over.”

Lea shrugs. “Sorry for coming over unannounced. I was bored. Thought we could go on a walk or something. Maybe get some ice cream.”

Choi Soobin Fact #8: He has an insatiable sweet tooth.

“Sure,” is his immediate answer, for he is only human and unable to resist temptation (A/N: He would soon realize the former is factually incorrect). “Let me go wake up Beom– “

“Actually,” Lea interrupts, looking a bit sheepish. “I was thinking it could just be the two of us?”

“Uh, sure?” Soobin answers? “I’m okay with that, but Beomgyu’s definitely going to be mad when he wakes up and realizes we went to get ice cream without him.”

Lea rolls her eyes. “We’ll just bring back some for him.”

Soobin snickers. “We will definitely have to. Let me just go get my phone.”

Lea nods. “I’ll wait out here.”

Beomgyu is still fast asleep when Soobin runs into their room to grab his phone, hugging his Ryan plush to his chest. Soobin leaves a short note just so the younger doesn’t panic if he wakes up and he’s nowhere to be seen.

_getting ice cream with lea. i’ll bring back a cup of vanilla for you :P_

While walking with Lea, Soobin realizes two things. One, his best friend is uncharacteristically quiet this evening and two, she doesn’t have her phone with her.

The second is a bit puzzling for Soobin, since he’s never seen Lea go anywhere without her phone since the 8th grade. When he had asked her about it, the girl had merely shrugged and replied with, “Didn’t see the point in bringing it.”

Definitely puzzling, but Soobin doesn’t think too much into it.

“Did your dad drive you?” He asks in an attempt to break through the silence that had fallen over them.

Lea nods. No verbal response.

“Why didn’t Kai come with you?” Soobin asks again.

“Homework,” is her curt reply.

Soobin hums. “Is it that History assignment he has to work on with Kang Tae– “

“ _Fili diaboli_.”

Soobin stops in his tracks. It’s only then that he realizes Lea has fallen short behind him, and that she’s standing stiffly a few feet away from him. Her gaze is hard and taciturn, in a fashion atypical of Lea. Soobin feels the slight evening breeze as it brushes past the short hairs on his nape. “What?”

“ _Flili diaboli_ ,” she repeats, not quite sounding like herself. “ _Dominus_ _Bellum_ seeks you.”

Soobin chuckles but he doesn’t quite hear the mirth in his own voice. “Is that a line from that play you’re acting in next month? What is it? French?”

He expects her to break character – to perhaps double over cackling with her hands over her open mouth and a cry of “I got you!” but she doesn’t. Instead, his phone vibrates in his pocket with an urgency that has Soobin pull it out swiftly, relieved to break eye contact with the girl.

The relief is short-lived.

**Lea**

ughhh

i finally finished my lit assignment

i’m so bored

hey soobin

binnie

soooooooobin

The last message is an audio message.

With a shaky thumb, Soobin presses play.

“Soobin, Soobin,” the voice that is irrefutably Lea’s comes out from his speakers. A chill runs down his spine. The face of the “Lea” standing in front of him is devoid of emotion, but even in the dark, Soobin swears the black of her pupil are slowly engulfing the whites of her eyes.

“Dude, if you’re free, let’s have a Netflix party,” Lea says giddily on the recording. Soobin can hear Kai’s loud, happy screech in the background. “KAI, SHU– “ The message cuts off.

The tips of his fingers have gone very cold, and yet Soobin can feel the sweat beading on his temples.

“You,” he stammers. “You’re not Lea.”

“Lea” smiles. It’s sinister and it makes Soobin stagger back, much like his own twisted reflection did in his nightmare back at the hospital (that he seems to remember all of a sudden). His grip on his phone slackens and it falls to the ground with a loud crack, but Soobin doesn’t even notice – can’t seem to focus on anything else aside from the pools of darkness that stare back at him from the two sockets of her eyes.

“Lea” inches forward.

“I was sent to seek you by _Dominus Bellum_.” This time, Soobin is sure. She no longer sounds like Lea.

 _Something_ has rendered him immobile, because he tries to turn and sprint – away from this… _person_ or whatever it is that’s standing in front of him, but his feet stay firmly planted to the ground. At first, he assumes it’s his own fear that rendered him immobile, much like his first time seeing the Exorcist when he had literally sat on his couch for a few minutes paralyzed in fear as the movie played out in front of him. When he looks down, however, he sees black tendrils creeping up his feet and onto his legs from the ground, the source being none other than “Lea’s” abnormally contorted shadow.

Oh, yeah, Soobin is full-on panicking now.

“What is this? Who are you?” He asks “Lea” but he can’t help the way his voice comes out sounding an octave or two higher than he would’ve liked it to be. He looks around for someone, anyone that might be able to help, but the streets are somehow deserted. It’s just him and whatever situation he’s got himself caught up in.

“ _Dominus Bellum_ awaits you,” she says again, sounding more and more distorted with each syllable, like the monsters in the horror movies he would binge with Beomgyu on the weekends do. Soobin’s thoughts are running at a mile per second. _What even is this Domino Bellum what is this stuff on my legs how do I get out of here is this person even human why do her eyes look like that oh my god am I going to die Beomgyu thinks I went out for ice cream I didn’t even get to finish Sweet Home why is no one here I’m scared I’m scared I’m scared-_

“I don’t think he wants to see this Dominus Bellum of yours.”

The voice belongs to neither “Lea” (though it should be pretty clear that she is not Lea as this point) or Soobin. Not Lea realizes this as well. She turns around with a snarl to see whoever it is that said it. Her movement allows Soobin, through glassy eyes, to see them as well. Standing some distance away from them and cloaked in darkness, but surprisingly, not an unfamiliar face.

Mullet. Full lips. Foxy eyes. Long legs.

It’s _him_. The stranger he had met at the convenience store alongside Taehyun before his accident.

Even with the bone-deep dread he’s feeling, Soobin can’t help but think that, even in the darkness, he’s still just as beautiful as he remembers him to be. Soobin almost sobs with relief. Almost.

The beautiful stranger is holding a fucking sword.

“Holy shit,” Soobin breathes.

Not Lea hisses. “ _Venator_.”

Beautiful Stranger sneers, brandishing his _fucking sword_. “Demon.”

And no more words were exchanged between them.

Not Lea charges forward with an animalistic snarl that makes Soobin fall backwards in horror, even if she wasn’t coming towards him. With his feet still planted firmly to the ground, Soobin watches as Not Lea swings at Beautiful Stranger with her bare hands, which is incredulous because the dude has a fucking sword and with just one swing of said sword, he has – _Oh my God, he’s cut off her hand. That’s a hand. That’s a severed hand on the fucking ground not even three feet away from me._

Soobin screeches.

Not Lea staggers back with a pained wail, as any creature would were one of their appendages cut off. But before Soobin can empty the contents of his stomach, he notices that under the faint streetlights, the blood on the silver of the stranger’s blade, that on the bloodied nub of Not Lea’s wrist and that on the severed hand on the ground before him – it isn’t red.

It’s black. Pitch-black. Almost like ink.

It confirms Soobin’s fears. Whatever this creature is, it’s not human and it’s most definitely not his best friend either.

It then lets out a loud, guttural growl. Even though its back is faced to him, Soobin can imagine what it must look like, because after all, it’s still wearing Lea’s face. He imagines his best friend’s face contorted hideously in rage, pitch black eyes seething. Unlike the creature, the stranger looks almost calm as it once again charges forward, swifter this time. He sidesteps it and deflects one of its attacks with his sword. Soobin realizes that although unarmed, the creature isn’t necessarily defenseless, for its nails are sharp claws that clang loudly against the metal of the stranger’s blade.

Whilst the two continue to dance around each other their dance of death, Soobin had realized that he could now move his feet, for they’re no longer caught by that shadow or whatever it was that creature had bound them with. Washed over with relief that he is no longer restrained and that the creature is very thoroughly distracted, Soobin scrambles up and books it.

He doesn’t make it very far.

There’s a loud, strangled cry that is distinctly very human and very male that makes Soobin stop right when he hears it. It’s almost an impulse, how he immediately whips around. The sight that greets him is not a very pleasant one. The stranger is struggling. His sword had fallen to the ground and now lay some distance away from him. His feet swing uselessly in the air as he is held up by…

A tongue. A very long tongue. Coming out of the _thing’s_ gaping mouth. Wrapped around his throat. That he’s very desperately grappling with in an attempt to stop it from crushing his airway. There’s no mistaking it. It may be dark, and he may have put some considerable distance between them, but Soobin sits in the far back of his class and has never missed an eye exam.

Choi Soobin Fact #9: He has very good eyes. His aunt tells him it’s because he ate all his carrots when he was younger. But enough about his good eyes. Someone is in the middle of being strangled to death by what is probably the longest fucking tongue he’s ever seen right in front of him.

So, in what is perhaps the dumbest _and_ bravest action Soobin’s ever taken in his seventeen years of living, he dashes towards them without much thought and takes the fallen sword off the ground. His sudden movement makes the creature react, but clearly not fast enough as Soobin slices its tongue clean off.

A pained screech pierces through the air as black liquid splatters across Soobin’s stricken face. The stranger falls to the ground with a loud thud, immediately gasping for breath as he pulled off the severed tongue from his neck. Soobin watches the creature stumble back against a wall with black blood pouring from its mouth, still moaning in pain.

“Kill it,” the stranger rasps from the ground. “Kill it! Now!”

Soobin feels a thick droplet of blood slide down his cheek and suddenly feels like throwing up.

The creature chokes out something in a tongue Soobin knows isn’t Korean, or anything other language he knows of, for that matter. And yet, he finds himself understanding it.

“ _My lord_ ,” it says. “ _Please spare me. I am your kind. I hail from the blood of Lilith, mother of demons. Our true foe is that hunter_ ,” it hisses at the stranger still lying on the ground.

“What are you waiting for?” The boy on the ground screams at the same time.

Soobin can no longer feel the rise and fall of his chest with each breath he takes.

“ _What do you mean?_ ” he finds himself asking. “ _How am I your kind?_ ”

The creature’s dark eyes stare into his. “ _The blood of Lord Satan flows through you, my lord._ ”

“For fuck’s sake, hurry up and kill it!”

It’s precipitous, the way the creature lurches forwards with a growl – aiming for the stranger. On reflex, Soobin thrusts.

The squelch of the blade as it cuts through the flesh of its chest is louder than Soobin expected it to be. He watches the life go out from the creature’s pitch-dark eyes in horror, and has to remind himself that _this isn’t Lea, it’s not her_ when he sees black blood bubble from its mouth.

With an almost _human_ sort of desperation, it lets out one last pathetic whine.

And then its body _dissipates_.

One, two, three.

Four.

Four. Three. Two.

The sword in his hand drops first. Then, he does. On his knees and onto the concrete, chest heaving with each painful breath and tears prickling at his eyes.

_If this is a nightmare, I’d like to wake up now._

“Namjoon-hyung was right.”

When Soobin turns, the stranger is standing above him and holding the sword to his throat with a fire in his gaze.

“You’re one of them, aren’t you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fili diaboli - Son of the Devil  
> Dominus Bellum - Lord Belial, who is a demon (and that is all I will say for now)  
> Venator - Hunter


	4. Get Kidnapped (And Discover Your Lineage!)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You never knew you were mixed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !! trigger warning for self-harm !!  
> So, there are two (relatively short) scenes of self-harm in this chapter that I've marked with *** so that you, the reader, can skip through in case it might be triggering. This chapter is probably the first "heavy' chapter of the entire story, but I did throw in some lighthearted scenes.

Choi Soobin Fact #10: He has never had a hot guy hold a weapon to his throat, and he never thought he would have a hot guy hold a weapon to his throat.

And yet, here he is.

“You’re one of them, aren’t you?”

Soobin has no idea who “them” could be, and not just because he has a _sword to his throat_. Swallowing, he raises his hands slowly. He’s completely defenseless now that the sword is no longer in his grasp, but he’s been told he has very effective puppy eyes. He wasn’t above using them to get an extra cup of chocolate pudding from the lunch ladies last week, so he’ll be darned if he’s not going to make use of them in a life-or-death situation.

“Please,” he pleads. “Pu-put the sword down. Please don’t kill me.”

The stranger tuts. “I’m not going to kill you, you idiot.”

Soobin blinks. “You’re not?”

“I was ordered not to,” he says, which makes Soobin even more lost. _Ordered?_ But then the tip of the sword inches closer to his Adam’s apple as the stranger’s glower intensifies. “But if you try _anything_ , I can’t promise there won’t be any… accidents.”

The threat hangs heavy in the air around them. Soobin gulps.

A phone rings. With his free hand, the hot stranger reaches back into his pocket and takes out a cell phone. It reminds Soobin of his own cell phone. His poor phone that had fallen to the ground with a sickening crack after that… _that_. All those blackmail pictures of Beomgyu he had, gone.

“Hey, hyung,” the stranger says into his phone. “Yeah, I know. Actually, I’m with him right now. We got into some trouble.” A pause as the other person speaks. “We’re alright. I’ll have to bring him, though.” Another long pause. “Okay.”

He hangs up without another word, and Soobin is as confused as ever.

“Get up,” the stranger orders him. Soobin wobbles as he stands, still feeling weak in the knees. He exhales a breath of relief when the stranger lowers his sword, but it is short-lived, for the next words that come out of the boy’s mouth are, “You’re coming with me. If you try to run away, don’t think I won’t chase after you and cut off one of your fingers.”

Soobin blanches with each word of the vivid threat.

With no choice but to resign to his fate, he sighs.

“But can you please help me look for my phone first?”

With his broken phone tucked in his back pocket and the stranger gripping him by the arm with an almost inhuman strength, Soobin is dragged to… the convenience store. Where Jungkook works.

However, standing behind the register is not Jungkook, but a man with bright red hair and an equally bright smile that immediately falls when Soobin and the stranger walk through the door.

“Is that ichor?” He cries. Soobin has no idea what that word means. “What happened?”

“Demon encounter,” the stranger grumbles as if it were nothing more than a daily occurrence or a minor inconvenience (and considering he just… carries around swords, Soobin doesn’t doubt the possibility of it being either). When Soobin gapes at him with horrified eyes, his eyes slightly widen, as though he had just had a realization. “Oh, right. That was a demon you killed.”

Soobin has lost all ability to even _attempt_ to respond.

“Namjoon’s inside,” the man behind the register says. “Tell him everything. And make sure you tell him if you have any injuries, too.”

_Namjoon?_ Where has Soobin heard that name before? _Namjoon_.

The stranger rolls his eyes. “I know. I will.”

“Did you hurt Soobin in any way?”

An icy feeling washes over the boy when he hears his name tumble out of the man’s mouth.

“No, hyung.”

“Good,” the man says. He turns to Soobin with a small smile. “I know you’re in a scary situation at the moment, but there’s really no need to be scared, Soobin. We don’t mean you any harm.”

And _that_ is probably the single scariest reassurance Soobin has ever heard in his entire life.

“Alright, Hoseok-hyung,” the stranger says, his grip on Soobin’s arm tightening almost painfully. “We’ll be going in now.”

The redhead – _Hoseok_ nods. Soobin is then shoved into that room. The one he always assumed was a storage room.

And it is a storage room. Except, besides boxes and shelves of mundane convenience store supplies, there is an elegant sepia round table placed right in the center of the room with seven chairs placed around it. Three of said chairs are occupied.

All three of the occupants are faces Soobin recognizes.

One of them has blond hair and an eyepatch over his left eye – Kang Taehyun – and another has long black hair cascading past his cheeks in soft waves and a sleeve of tattoos on his exposed right arm that Soobin would recognize anywhere – _Jungkook_. The third face takes him a moment to put a name on, but when he finally does, it is perhaps the one that chills Soobin the most.

Dimpled. Neatly styled brown hair.

The doctor from the hospital.

“Ah, Yeonjun,” Namjoon says when he spots Soobin and the stranger – who he assumes is Yeonjun – standing at the door. “You look like you ran into some trouble.”

“I took care of it. Well,” Soobin is pushed forward roughly. “ _He_ did.” The scowl is evident in Yeonjun’s voice.

Namjoon raises an impressed brow. “Did he, now?” The doctor then stands up from his seat and pulls out the chair next to his. He looks to Soobin with inviting eyes. “Please sit, Soobin.”

Soobin probably shouldn’t.

And yet he finds himself being offered tea and wet towels at the table not even five minutes later.

“Are you an oolong or a green tea type of person, Soobin?” Namjoon asks him kindly. “Or would you prefer other alternatives? A soda, perhaps.”

Soobin tries to say no but is tempted by the can of grape soda Jungkook rolls his way with a knowing look. “It’s your favorite, isn’t it?”

The boy is almost touched by the fact that the man remembers.

“Wipe your face,” Jungkook tells him. “Ichor isn’t a good look on you.”

Soobin complies, taking the towel he was handed earlier by a stoic Kang Taehyun and wiping at his cheeks. He winces when he sees the black that comes off on the white cloth. _It was real. All of it_.

“I’m assuming you have questions, yes?” Namjoon speaks up, snapping Soobin out of his reverie. The boy nods.

“Uh. What’s eye- ichor?”

“Demon blood,” Yeonjun answers from his seat, where he’s in the middle of unwrapping a Mars bar coolly. How can one look cool while performing the simplest of tasks like unwrap a candy bar? Soobin would also like to know. “The black stuff. It’s poisonous. Well. I’m guessing not for you.”

His answer raises only more questions for Soobin.

“I think you should leave the explaining to Namjoon-hyung, Yeonjun,” Jungkook says exasperatedly, which earns him a low mutter of “be my guest” from the boy. Taehyun quietly snickers over the rim of his teacup.

“Yes, you probably should. But Soobin,” Namjoon turns to him with a grim stare. “Before we proceed– I won’t lie to you. This will be _a lot_ to take in.”

Soobin is scared of the implications in that comment.

But you see, he’s had a very shit week.

First, he was hit by a car and – by some divine intervention – lived to tell the tale. Unscathed, too. Then he went back to school, where he injured a classmate in PE class during a game of dodgeball with a physical prowess he wasn’t aware he possessed. And then, he met a weird creature – apparently a _demon_ – that had his _best friend’s face_. He also had to witness its bizarrely long tongue very nearly choke someone he happened to be so conveniently attracted to, stab it to death with a _sword_ and watch as the life went out of its bizarre black eyes.

So, despite all his fears, Soobin swallows and nods.

Namjoon nods. “Taehyun, if you would please.”

Soobin’s attention shifts to the blond boy, whose hands come up behind his ears to take off his eyepatch. His eyes remain closed all the while but when the eyepatch drops to his lap, he slowly opens them.

Soobin can’t hold back a small gasp of surprise. The boy’s left eye is black, with no whites to be seen – much like the eyes of the demon from earlier that evening.

Taehyun’s voice is soft when he speaks. “I’m just like you. Half-blood.”

“What?” is the only word Soobin manages to reply with.

From seemingly nowhere, Taehyun pulls out a dagger. A beautiful, vintage-looking dagger – much like ones you would see on the covers of fantasy novels, with what look like intricately carved details on the glistening silver of the blade. But who cares how beautiful it is? Soobin’s fears are about to be realized – he’s going to die in a convenience store’s staff room, murdered by a group of very attractive young men.

***

To his own surprise, the boy doesn’t use it to harm him– he instead brings the blade to his own forearm and slices a long stripe of red up his own skin, his face not even twitching as he did so. Soobin watches the scene with bated breath. He tries to plead the boy to stop, but his voice doesn’t come out.

***

When he tries to look away, Yeonjun holds him by the chin and forces his face back in Taehyun’s direction.

“Look,” is the simple command he gives him.

It’s also that one word that makes Soobin’s world come crashing down around him, because through glassy eyes, he follows.

And watches as the open, bleeding cut on Taehyun’s arm sizzles itself closed until it disappears completely. He can barely breathe.

“Taehyun, are you okay?” Jungkook asks the boy as he hands him a wad of tissues. The blond simply nods.

“I’m alright, hyung.”

Soobin, on the other hand, is _not_.

“What the _hell_?”

“That’s what’s going to happen if you were to get cut, too,” Yeonjun says from his side. “You should know this already. I mean, didn’t you literally survive a near-death experience?”

The boy’s head whips up. “A near-death experience? You mean– earlier?”

“No.” It’s Namjoon who speaks up. “Monday evening.”

“Monday?”

“You were in an accident,” the doctor reminds him.

“But I wasn’t… even…”

The cut on Taehyun’s arm had healed without a trace. Soobin is certain that car hit him. Hard. Yet, for some reason, he was unharmed.

He feels his throat closing in on him.

“You might not have been aware because you were unconscious, but there was a particularly large gash on your forehead that apparently bled profusely at the scene of impact,” Namjoon says before pausing and bringing his cup of tea to his lips to take a contemplative sip. “And yet, when you arrived at the ER, I found that you had no injuries. Not so much as a scrape on your elbows., and yet there was blood on your clothes that I doubt belonged to anyone else. It’s fortunate that I was your doctor. With anyone else, it would’ve caused quite the confusion.”

Soobin is having a hard time keeping his breathing even. “I… I healed?”

“That’s exactly what happened, yes. And you know just as well as the next person that enhanced regeneration isn’t exactly a human quality.”

Soobin’s seen enough sci-fi to grasp the basic concept behind the doctor’s words. “Are you saying that– that I’m… not human?

Namjoon purses his lips. “We think – well, we’re almost _certainly_ sure – that you are half-demon.”

Choi Soobin Fact #11: He’s not the kind of teenager to stay out late – that is, if he even goes out at all.

“Why don’t you go home for the night, Soobin? Jungkook can give you a ride home. After all, it’s getting late and your family is probably worried sick.”

Even if he doesn’t necessarily want to, Soobin has to admit Namjoon has good intuition.

“Where the _hell_ were you?” his aunt screams at him the moment he steps through the front door of their apartment. She’s still in the clothes she wore to work that day, but her hair is an unkempt mess that tumbled down her shoulders. “You don’t pick up my calls, you didn’t tell your brother where you were going and _lied_ to him?”

He winces when the woman knocks several soft blows on his shoulder, feeling guilty for being the cause of her obvious dismay. “I’m sorry. I’ll explain myself, I will.”

“Well, you’d better!” Aunt Aerin howls. When she pulls back, Soobin sees that her eyes are red-rimmed and glassy. Swallowing the guilt rising up his throat, he says the only thing he prepared for on his way home.

“I fell.”

His aunt’s jaw does not slacken. Soobin sighs and pulls out his phone, showing her the cracks across the screen. “ _This_ is why I couldn’t answer your calls. I fell and broke it.”

Aunt Aerin’s shoulders slacken but she continues to glare at him. “That still doesn’t explain why you lied to your brother in that note you left him. ‘Ice cream with Lea?’ We called her and she said she had no idea you were even meeting up for ice cream.”

“I know. I’m sorry,” Soobin desperately says as he racked his brain for excuses. “I was…”

“You were?”

_What was I doing? What?_

“…on a date?” He finishes lamely.

His aunt raises a brow. “You? Were on a date?”

“Who wash on a date?” Beomgyu yells from where he had come running out of their bedroom, shirtless and with a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth. His eyes widen when they land on the tall boy standing before his mother. “ _Shoobin_?”

“Yes, he’s back. Thank _God_. Apparently, he was on a date,” his mother deadpans. Soobin scowls at the two of them.

“Why is it so hard for the two of you to believe I was out on a date?”

“Becaush,” Beomgyu pulls the toothbrush out of his mouth, “you’re you.”

“What he means to say is,” his aunt interjects loudly, “you’ve never so much as stayed out past 8pm – today being the _only_ exception. Were you really on a date?”

“Yes,” Soobin says. You know, like a liar.

His aunt nods, but the purse of her lips tell him that she doesn’t quite buy it yet. “Then tell me about this… partner of yours.”

“Uh,” Soobin starts. “He…”

“Ish a guy?” Beomgyu screeches.

Soobin glowers at the younger. “Yes, Beomgyu, I’m gay and you of all people should know this. You were the first person I came out to. We were at Baskin Robbin’s?”

“What’s his name?” His aunt interrupts with her eyes narrowed, and fuck, Soobin really hadn’t thought this through. What now? _What now?_

“His name is…” _Come on, Soobin. Think. Think of a name. Literally any name. First name that comes to your mind, go!_

“Yeonjun.”

_Soobin, what the hell?_

His aunt furrows her brows. “Yeonjun?”

All the way from across the apartment, Beomgyu gives him a look that reads “ _Who the hell is Yeonjun?_ ”

“Yes,” Soobin replies with faux confidence. “He’s this guy… from another school.”

The foam is now dripping down from Beomgyu’s gaping mouth in a line of minty white. _Gross_.

But Aunt Aerin hums, finally seeming to believe him. “As much I would like to know more about this boyfriend of yours and what the two of you were up to that kept you away for so long, I know you’re not one to lie to me (A/N: Psych). Besides, you’ve had a hard week and it’s getting late, so I’ll let you rest. We’ll talk about your phone tomorrow.”

Soobin exhales contentedly.

“But you are, of course, grounded.”

He should have seen that coming.

The water is ice cold when it splashes over his face, a further assurance that _yes_ , this is in fact reality.

Soobin regards his own reflection in the mirror. There are no visible changes to his appearance, apart from his eyes that are slightly sunken in and red – an understandable feat considering his… eventful night.

_“We think – well, we’re almost_ certainly _sure – that you are half-demon.”_

_“What?” had been Soobin’s delayed response, for he had taken a few seconds to fully comprehend what he had heard._

_“We are what you would call ‘demon hunters’,” Namjoon explained. “All of us sitting at this table and Hoseok, who I’m sure you met outside. Taehyun here is half-demon, just like you.”_

_“And that monster you killed earlier was a demon,” Yeonjun interjected, “but you know that already.”_

_Soobin feels the telltale of tears brimming at his eyes._

***

Before Soobin can fully grasp what he’s doing, he’s rummaging through the cabinet above the sink for Beomgyu's hair-cutting scissors. When he finds them, he wastes no time in stabbing the sharp tip into the skin right above his wrist with all his force. Wincing through the pain, he keeps pressing it in, until eventually blood begins dripping down from his arm and onto the sink. 

***

Ten seconds later, Soobin finds himself staring blankly at unmarred skin where the wound is supposed to be, while his blood is washed away by the running water in streams of pink.

“So, you’re lying to me now,” Beomgyu says when he comes out of the bathroom. He’s sitting on his bed, already dressed for bed, and Soobin shrinks when he sees the disappointed downward pull of his lips, because he knows he owes the boy an explanation. An apology.

“I didn’t mean to.”

“I really could care less about who you’re dating, hyung,” his brother sighs, “but you don’t lie to me. We’ve always been honest with each other.”

“I know,” Soobin says desperately. “It’s just…”

What would he even say? _Hey, Beomgyu, today I killed a demon that looked just like our best friend. Oh, and also, I’m half-demon. Funny how so many things you thought were true your entire life could be proven wrong within the span of a few hours_.

“You don’t need to explain yourself,” the other finally says, having noticed how much Soobin was struggling with his own thoughts. “Have you had dinner? With your boyfriend or whatever.”

“Yes,” Soobin lies, but it’s not like he would be able to stomach any food anyway.

“Good. Get some rest, you look tired. I’m tired, too.”

Despite the exhaustion and many, _many_ emotions swirling in his head at the moment, Soobin would never pass up on an opportunity to poke fun at his brother. “Don’t tell me you’re tired because you were worried sick about me.”

Beomgyu rolls his eyes. “As infuriating as you are and how much I wish I could refute – “

“Oh? Choi Beomgyu using big boy words?”

“– I actually was,” the boy finishes, catching Soobin off-guard. “You weren’t back even by the time Mom got home, Lea said she had no idea where you were or that she was even ‘going out for ice cream’ with you in the first place, and our calls weren’t going through. Of course I was worried sick.”

The words get stuck in Soobin’s throat.

Beomgyu clears his throat and throws his covers over his leg. “You owe me one, you know. Mom wanted to call the police and report a missing person case, but I told her we should wait because I knew you would bring your lanky ass through that door.”

Soobin chuckles as he walks over to his own bed. He dives onto the mattress headfirst and sighs contentedly when he buries his cheek into his pillow.

When Beomgyu turns off the lights, he inhales the scent of his own shampoo deeply and pretends everything is alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some things will simply come back to bite my boy Soobin in the ass


	5. Show the New Kid Around School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Drag him into an empty classroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Frequent updates since I've been on break from uni and hence, jobless.
> 
> Also would like to say that NYFW yeonjun is exactly the yeonjun I was envisioning when I first started writing this story (but with a mullet bc mullet yeonjun is superior) so imagine NYFW yeonjun with a sword and a mullet. Haha. Enjoy.

On Saturday morning, he woke up after a nightmare, but this time it was not the same one he had all those other times. In the new nightmare, he was reliving the frightening events of Friday evening. The only difference was that, after he stabbed the demon that looked just like Lea, it wasn't her disfigured face that stared back at him, but his own.

With black eyes and ichor dripping through razor-sharp teeth.

He woke up struggling to breathe. Beomgyu had to tumble out of his own bed and pull him into a gentle embrace in consolation.

When the boy asked him about it after breakfast, Soobin shook his head and told him he couldn’t remember the details.

Choi Soobin Fact #12: He’s very good at ignoring his problems.

“Come by to the store tomorrow. I promise we only want to help you, Soobin,” Jungkook had told him when he dropped Soobin off at his apartment building on his motorcycle (the man is very cool) _that_ Friday night.

And Soobin, very deliberately, did not go to the store. In his defense, he was grounded.

Soobin then spent the rest of the weekend in forced blissful ignorance and pretending all was fine as he studied too much and laughed too loud whenever Beomgyu said something that wasn’t even supposed to be funny.

“You’re being weird,” Beomgyu told him.

“I’m dandy,” Soobin replied with a strained smile that was very much _not_ dandy.

Namjoon had also given him his number (in the form of a business card, because he was an Adult) before a shell-shocked Soobin had left the store upon his request with a gentle, “I want you to process it, but I also don’t want you to avoid us. Please don’t hesitate to call.”

Soobin did not do that either. His phone is still broken and yet to be replaced. He has good reasons.

What he _did_ do was accidentally snap his toothbrush in half while brushing his teeth and pay Hyunjin a visit on Sunday with his aunt and a basket of food that she prepared after hearing it was Soobin’s throw that had injured him during dodgeball. Soobin was nervous when the boy’s mother led him up to his room, but when he saw him he realized Hyunjin was positively _glowing_ , despite his injury.

“You really don’t need to apologize,” was the response to Soobin’s apology. “And you don’t need to pay for anything either. It’s just dislocated shoulder and I’m a big boy. If anything, I should be thanking you.”

When Soobin raised a confused brow, the boy leaned in and told him gaily, “I _really_ didn’t study for the English test we have on Wednesday. Since my arm's going to be in a sling for the next couple of days, I'm not going to be able to take it.”

There was a part of Soobin that really wanted Hyunjin to reconsider his priorities but another part of him was also slightly envious.

“By the way, your brother’s single, right?”

Soobin left promptly after that.

So comes Monday once again. On his way to school, his mind was plagued by possible ways to keep Kai away from Taehyun for good while Beomgyu blabbered on about his demon (read: human, just very nasty) of a math teacher. That being said, telling him the truth – that the blond is half-demon and has crazy fast healing abilities, and that they would need to stay as far away from him as possible is definitely _not_ on the list. _What if I tell Kai he comes from a family of Korean mobsters?_

He would have to try. He would also have to convince Beomgyu to find another convenience store to shop at.

When he walks into class, the first thing Lea asks is what happened on Friday evening and about “this boyfriend Yeonjun of yours” and honestly? Darn Beomgyu. Darn him and everything he stands for.

Soobin opens his mouth to tell her that it’s none of her business, but before he can even get the first word out, their homeroom teacher Ms. Cho walks into class and claps her hands twice to gather their attention.

“Alright, settle down,” she orders. Soobin settles into his seat beside Lea’s, making sure to stick his tongue out at her like a testy child.

“So, exciting news,” Ms. Cho says with a smile and Soobin knows teacher speak well enough to know whatever she’s about to say isn’t going to be exciting at all. Maybe a quiz announcement. Or a new assignment. Maybe both. “We’ll be having a new student starting today! He’s waiting outside the class.”

Soobin looks to his side, where Lea’s fascinated eyes meet his. For a split second, he sees pitch-black eyes and a long tongue slithering out of her agape mouth, so he squeezes his eyes shut. When he opens them again, Lea’s brown eyes stare back at him, pinched in confusion and worry. Soobin looks away from her, shaking his head lightly.

Is this PTSD? It might be.

In his daze, he doesn’t notice the new student already standing in front of the class beside the teacher or the girls’ delighted gasps, and it’s only when this new student speaks that Soobin’s eyes widen and snap up.

“My name is Choi Yeonjun. I’ll be your classmate starting today.”

Mirth is dancing in Yeonjun’s feline eyes when his eyes meet Soobin’s aghast ones.

A pen drops somewhere.

Soobin spends his first three classes trying and very barely succeeding to ignore Yeonjun’s presence and existence in general. The teacher seats the boy right behind Soobin, because of course. _Of course_ , the only vacant seat in the entire classroom would be behind him. Soobin is convinced there’s some strange, intangible force fucking with his life. It’s very troubling. He feels eyes boring into the back of his head the entire time. On top that, there’s Lea, who isn’t daft and catches on very quickly to the – for lack of better words – _chemistry_ between him and the hunter-now-classmate. She passes him a note in the middle of their English class.

_is this THE Yeonjun???? ;)_

Soobin crumples it up and makes a whole show of crushing it under his foot.

But one of Lea’s most admirable (yet in Soobin’s particular case, _infuriating_ ) traits is that she perseveres.

“Is it him?” are the first words that tumble out of her mouth when she catches up to the tall boy who had rushed out of the classroom as soon as the bell rang with his head down in the hopes of not having to meet eyes with a particular demon hunter in a mullet. “Was he _that_ Yeonjun? Your boyfriend Yeonjun?”

“Shut up.”

Lea gasps. “That’s not very nice.”

Soobin rolls his eyes and walks even faster, relishing in her pants as she struggled to keep up. Perks of having long legs.

They get separated while lining up for lunch, as Lea had fallen about two people behind him, so Soobin’s sanity gets a break.

It clearly doesn’t last very long.

Because when he approaches their usual spot in the cafeteria, hoping to at least enjoy his lunch at some degree of normalcy, he sees Beomgyu and Kai already seated at the table.

But next to a giggling Kai is Kang Taehyun casually conversing with the boy and right across a confused Beomgyu chewing on his lunch is someone with their back turned to him and a head of black hair.

More specifically, a mullet.

Soobin nearly drops his lunch all over the floor.

“Oh, hey!” Kai calls out enthusiastically when he sees the tall third year and his sister walk up to their table, but the former still doesn’t dare to take another step. He could go a day without lunch. All he has to do is turn around and walk away.

No such luck. Choi Yeonjun turns and looks him right in the eyes.

Now, Soobin is pretty sure he had left the class before anyone else could – before _Yeonjun_ could – so how is it possible that the boy is already sitting there with his friend and brother, almost halfway through his lunch?

There is _definitely_ some strange, intangible force fucking with his life.

“So,” Beomgyu says once Soobin had (hesitantly) taken his seat right beside Yeonjun (courtesy of Lea), “we have some new people joining us for lunch today.”

The only people who look pleased about it are Kai and Lea, the younger practically beaming since he gets to sit next to his crush. Lea, with the shit-eating grin, asks, “So, your name is Choi Yeonjun, yes?”

Idly chewing on his noodles, Yeonjun nods nonchalantly.

“Huh, that’s funny,” Beomgyu deadpans, narrowing his eyes at his older brother. “You know, Soobin’s boyfriend’s name is al– “

“Yeonjun, can we talk?” Soobin interrupts loudly and he’d be lying if he were to say his voice didn’t come out several pitches higher than he had intended it to. “Please?” He adds with a desperate look.

Indeed, there _is_ a first for everything, for Yeonjun looks properly caught off-guard. “Sure, but let me finish my– “

“Cool, come with me right now!”

Soobin barely pays mind to Yeonjun’s cries of protest nor does he notice his friends’ confused stares as he pulls him away by the wrist out of the cafeteria and all the way to one of the deserted first-year classrooms. Right after he’s slid the door closed behind them, he lets go of Yeonjun.

Who punches him in the gut.

“What the _fuck_?” Soobin rasps once he’s regained his bearings. The force of the punch had been strong enough to knock him back against the door, and now he has his hands clutching at his stomach as he heaved through the ache.

“Funny, I should be asking _you_ the same thing,” Yeonjun spits bitterly. He then rolls up the right sleeve of his school uniform some. When he holds up his wrist for Soobin to see, the sight makes the boy’s eyes widen in shock.

There is a large reddening bruise right around where Soobin had been gripping him.

“Did- Did I do that?”

Yeonjun scoffs. “Who else?”

“I don’t,” Soobin falters. “I don’t understand. I didn’t mean to hold you that hard, I swear. And I’m- I’m pretty sure I _wasn’t_.”

“Have you forgotten that part about you being half- _demon_?” The word makes Soobin wince. “And since you didn’t show up during the weekend so we could _help you_ and explain to you what that means, let me tell you now. You’re not human. Your strength isn’t _human_. Your grip that wasn’t ‘meant to be that hard’ could’ve literally snapped my wrist in half.”

That’s a whole lot of information that just went into Soobin’s brain, but he can only say one thing. “I was grounded.”

Yeonjun squints at him like he’s finally lost it. “What?”

“That’s why I didn’t come,” Soobin explains, and technically, it isn’t a lie. “I was grounded. Still am.”

“Then why didn’t you call? Namjoon-hyung gave you his number.”

“My phone is broken,” Soobin replies, just as he had rehearsed. “You know that.”

Yeonjun’s scowl does not let up. “Couldn’t you have used your brother’s phone?”

This time, it’s Soobin’s turn to scowl. “And tell him what? That I need to call the demon hunters who are supposedly trying to help me since I’m apparently half-demon and I’ve never known this my entire life?”

Yeonjun doesn’t cease glaring at him, but his frown does relax some. “Fine. What did you pull me here for? My noodles are probably cold and soggy now.”

Soobin’s noodles must be getting cold and soggy too, so he gets straight to the point. “What are you doing here?”

“Namjoon-hyung thinks you need someone keeping an eye on you,” Yeonjun answers bluntly. “And also, I’ve been on break from school for a year now, so he thought it’d be the perfect time for me to come back.”

“Then, by all means, focus on your last year at school because I’m going to do the same,” Soobin blurts angrily, “and tell Namjoon to shove it because I don’t need a babysitter – especially not if that babysitter is _you_.”

Yeonjun scoffs at him, as if he were simply dealing with a spoiled child. “You really don’t get it yet, do you?”

“That you people seem to think you can do whatever you want?”

“That you’re _not safe_.”

When that effectively shuts Soobin up, Yeonjun takes it as his cue to continue.

“You don’t know this because all this time, you’ve been living in blissful ignorance, but demons have literally been pouring into our realm as of late. I don’t think I’ve gone three days without killing one for the past two months. Also, that demon we fought earlier – the one you _killed_ ,” just the mention of it makes a shiver run down Soobin’s spine, “you think there won’t be more like it? You know this, too. That demon came to you with a purpose. It wasn’t a mindless one either. It morphed itself to look _exactly_ like your friend. It had been probably been watching you long before it decided to finally make its move. It said _Dominus Bellum_ is seeking you. Do you know who that is?”

Soobin shakes his head because he doesn’t.

“Lord Belial,” the hunter says grimly. “One of the seven Great Demons.”

The information that Yeonjun had just divulged him felt like a punch in the gut, even more so than the actual punch in his gut had. Soobin tries to say something, but he doesn’t even know where to start. Eventually, he settles on, “What does that mean? For me.”

“Means for some undisclosed reason, this huge deal of a demon is looking for you. That you’re in danger,” is Yeonjun’s simple reply. “The sooner you realize that and the sooner you understand that we’re trying to help you, the better it’ll be for all of us.”

Following that is a long stretch of silence during which Soobin stares at the floor in deep contemplation of everything he’s ever known to be true in his life. Once again, he tries to say something, but what even is the appropriate response to someone telling you that some significant demon is looking for you and that you’re in mortal danger?

“How long is this internal monologue of yours going to last?” Yeonjun grumbles, effectively bringing Soobin back to reality. “I was in the middle of enjoying a very nice lunch until you had to drag me here, so if that’s all we had to discuss– “

But that’s not all Soobin wanted to discuss.

“My brother thinks we’re dating,” he says in one breath.

The hunter goes very still. His already cold gaze turns frigid. “What?”

Soobin swallows. “My brother. He thinks we’re dating.”

Yeonjun’s mouth drops open and Soobin would be amused with how flustered he looks were it not for the way his eyes are glaring daggers at him. “Why the _fuck_ ,” he hisses, “does he think we’re dating?”

This is the part Soobin feared most, but he is nothing if not an honest man. Most of the time. “I may have told him we are?”

Oh, if looks could kill, Soobin would be six feet under right now.

“Before you get mad,” he says in an attempt to pacify the other, which proves to be futile as Yeonjun pushes him against the door harshly with his hands fisted in the lapels of Soobin’s school uniform. The slight height difference between them has Soobin gazing down at him, and he blames his attraction to pretty boys with nice skin and plump lips for the way his face heats up when he is once again hit by the realization of just how stupidly beautiful Choi Yeonjun is.

“Explain,” the hunter snarls. Soobin gulps, for he is both very scared of and very attracted to him.

“Okay, I really didn’t mean to,” is what he opens with. “My aunt was really angry when I got home late. She started asking me all these questions, so I– I panicked and told her I was out on a date. Then she asked me who my date was, so I said the first name that came to mind.”

Yeonjun’s eye twitches. “Mine?”

"...Maybe?"

"Why the fuck would you have said my name?"

Maybe it’s because he’s pinned against the door or because being this close to the hunter is making his heart do funny jumps in his ribcage, but Soobin finds himself getting agitated. “I don’t think you have the right to be getting upset about one slip-up when you essentially _kidnapped_ me and were the reason I was interrogated in the first place.”

“But did it have to be _my_ name?” Yeonjun is fuming, but he’s also testing Soobin’s nerves.

“I already told you I said the first name that came to mind. It could have been anyone’s, even Namjoon’s.”

Yeonjun slightly winces, and for a second, Soobin thinks it might be because he said the older doctor’s name as being one on his list of Potential Fake Boyfriends but then he looks down and realizes that his hands are wrapped around the hunter’s surprisingly thin wrists with more force than is necessary. The thought of the boy once again being in pain because of him makes Soobin let go of his wrists immediately. The other lets go of his shirt as well.

“I’m sorry,” Soobin mutters sincerely. Yeonjun has taken a few steps away from him and is rubbing the bruise on his wrist with a stern expression.

“I’m alright, but you really need to start controlling your strength.”

 _And you really need to start controlling your temper,_ Soobin wants to retort, but chooses to bite his tongue instead. Fast healing or not, he still doesn't want to get punched again. "So, what should we do about the thing where Beomgyu and my friends think we’re seeing each other?”

“Your _friends_?” Yeonjun snaps.

“It’s not my fault Beomgyu has a loose cannon of a mouth!”

Yeonjun rolls his eyes. “Whatever. I can play along.”

That… was not at all the response Soobin had been expecting from him.

“Wait, what?” He asks, just to make sure he heard him correctly.

“I can play along,” the hunter reiterates. “This could be a good thing, actually. Namjoon-hyung wants me to be close to you as much as possible anyways.”

 _Oh_.

Yeonjun’s grin is smug and devious when he looks Soobin in the eyes. “What better way to make sure of that than to be your pretend boyfriend?”

Choi Soobin Fact #13: He now has a hot Fake Boyfriend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Threw that fake dating trope in there because . why not?


	6. Watch Your Boyfriend Battle the Janitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He's just a pretend one, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was really hard to write because i still don't know how to write fight scenes and also because i've been struggling with my mental health lately. but with txt's sriracha cover on loop and copious amounts of caffeine, i was able to finish this so without further ado

Soobin learns upon minutes of being Yeonjun’s fake boyfriend that the hunter is a very demanding fake boyfriend.

“It’s alright if your friends and family think we’re dating and are okay with it, but I don’t want _anyone else_ thinking that.”

“Tell them we’re not exclusive yet. Even better, tell them I’m still in the closet.”

“Under _no_ circumstance will I kiss you.”

“If they ask how we got together, _you_ asked _me_ out.”

But Soobin will be damned if he doesn’t try his best to meet every single one of them, because Yeonjun is incredibly intimidating and half-demon or not, Soobin still wants to live long enough to make it through university. The dislike is mutual between them (if not tinged with some attraction on Soobin’s end), so he wholeheartedly agrees when the hunter tells him that if it were up to him, he would want nothing to do with the boy.

When they finally make their way back to the cafeteria, there are only five more minutes of break and a radiant Kai, who was still staring at Taehyun while the blond ate like a lovestruck fool when they got back, points out Soobin’s loose tie and rumpled collar.

The tall boy hurries to fix it with a flush that doesn’t go unnoticed by his best friend and brother.

“Where did you even go? You were gone _forever_ ,” Beomgyu asks with a barely concealed smirk.

Choi Soobin Fact #14: He’s shit at lying. (see Chapter 4 for more details)

“The restroom.”

Lea raises a well-groomed brow. “Both of you?”

“Yes.”

At his side, Yeonjun chokes on broth.

A shrill bell signals the end of the school day. Students file out of classrooms, filling the hallways in swarms and excited chatter.

“Sucks that you’re grounded,” Lea grouses as she and Soobin stroll alongside each other. “Yeji told me about this new tteokbokki place downtown that I was really excited to visit with you today.”

Soobin sighs. With everything that’s been going on, he, too, is not averse to some tteokbokki. In fact, he yearns for it. “You could go with Kai.”

“The little shit abandoned me,” Lea snarks without any real venom in her voice. “He’s gone to this café with Kang Taehyun to ‘work on their project,’ but I think that just means _Taehyun’s_ going to work on the project while he sits there and pines like the idiot he is.”

Had this happened last week or the week before that, Soobin would have been happy for Kai. Where he stands though, he curses internally at the prospect of the boy getting closer to Taehyun. But he forces himself to not worry about it too much. For now. Once they’ve finished their project, Soobin would definitely have to have a chat with Kai. Back to the conversation. “Maybe next week we could go together? Aunt Aerin never grounds us for long, anyway.”

“Did you forget about that time Beomgyu got grounded for a month?”

“No, but he kind of deserved it. I mean, he did set a tree on fi– “

The word dies on the tip of his tongue as a strangely overwhelming sense of cold dread washes over him, along with a painful twist in his stomach.

“Soobin, you okay?” Lea’s voice is alert, and her gaze is apprehensive.

“No,” Soobin answers her quickly. “I need to go to the toilet.”

Lea’s shoulders relax. “Well, hurry up then. Want me to wait for you?”

“No!” He’s already backing away from her. “I’ll see you tomorrow, bye!”

He barely waits for her response as he turns and _sprints_ to the nearest restroom.

He makes it in time.

The boys’ restroom after school is mostly deserted, save for the old janitor in his blue-grey uniform who greeted him with a smile that Soobin was unable to return as he dashed into one of the stalls with an urgency that could only be rivaled by that of Achilles furiously storming into battlefield to exact revenge on Hector after Patroclus’ death.

When Soobin comes out after flushing (he always flushes, unlike _some_ students), the janitor is still mopping up the floor just as he had been doing when he had come in. He can’t hear much noise from outside anymore, as most of the students have left already. The hallways are probably empty by now. Soobin makes sure to step on the dry parts of the floor when he walks over to the sinks. He knows the hassle of having to clean up footprints from a still-damp floor you _just_ mopped.

As he washes his hands, he can’t help but feel like the man is staring at him.

The human subconscious somehow seems to know when they’re being stared at. Soobin’s read about it in some horror webtoon he can’t quite remember the name of. Gaze detection. _Scopaesthesia_ , derived from the Greek words for “looking” and something else. He can’t quite remember. He's never been very good with etymology, and he hadn’t been too interested in the technicalities when he was reading the webtoon. He had simply scrolled past to the thrilling parts.

The point is that the human mind seems to be conscious when they’re being stared at, even when the starer isn’t necessarily in their sight.

 _Scopaesthesia_.

Nervously, Soobin turns off the tap and looks up from his hands to the mirror where – sure enough, he sees his own reflection and that of the old janitor in the corner, smiling at him. Soobin’s never exchanged more than a few greetings with the old man, but he can’t shake off the inexplicable feeling that this man in the restroom with him isn’t the same janitor he’s been trading hello’s with for three years.

Unable to withstand the awkward silence any longer, Soobin clears his throat and closes the tap. When he turns around, the man is still there – silently smiling at him.

A shiver runs down his spine, but he supposes that’s only to be expected when an old man is being staring at you creepily.

Eager to leave, Soobin trots past the stalls and swings open the door that would lead him out of the restroom and back into the hallways.

A stone-faced Yeonjun standing on the other side startles him.

“Why are you still he– are you stalking me now?”

The hunter doesn’t even spare him a glance as he darts right past him and into the restroom. His blatant disregard of Soobin’s presence makes the boy roll his eyes, and he’s just about to walk away when Yeonjun speaks up.

“For someone with demon blood, you sure are shit at detecting them even when they’re in the same room as you.”

It’s said as a statement and with barely concealed exasperation. Soobin wishes he didn’t understand perfectly what the boy had meant by that, but he does.

Choi Soobin Fact #15: What Yeonjun said.

When he turns around, his blood turns cold. The “janitor” is no longer smiling. When the mop falls from his hand and onto the floor, Yeonjun pulls out a dagger from behind his jacket and under the waistband of his trousers. If this had occurred any other time, Soobin probably would’ve been more concerned about the fact that the boy had brought a _knife_ to school. But not now. Now, there is a “man” in front of him whose entire body is spasming in a way he’s only ever seen before in horror movies.

“Choi Soobin.”

Yeonjun’s voice makes Soobin let out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding.

“Close the door behind you.”

The “janitor” lets out a garbled, inhuman cry. From where its hands are supposed to be, two elongated fleshy appendages shoot out towards Yeonjun, but the hunter ducks. With a yelp, Soobin shuts the door and falls back against it as one of the weird… hand tentacle things darts right past his face, narrowly missing his nose. It drops to the floor after a sickening squelch of flesh being cut. The demon screeches. When Soobin finally gathers the courage to look at it again he sees black eyes and ashen grey skin. The appendage that Yeonjun had managed to cut off with his dagger continues to wiggle like a dead fish on the floor right in front of his feet, and the mere sight of it is enough for bile to rise up his throat – bile that he barely manages to suppress.

“Why are you still here?” Yeonjun screams at him while the demon is distracted by its own pain.

“I don’t know!” He really doesn’t.

Yeonjun’s glare is as intense as ever. “I told you to leave!”

Even as terrified and hysterical as he is, Soobin knows for a fact he didn’t. “No, you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did, you idiot,” the hunter barely has time to grit out as the demon’s remaining appendage swings at him again, this time even faster than it had been before. He slides out of its way and manages to nick the flesh with the blade. “I told you to close the door behind you!”

“You should’ve been clearer. I thought you just wanted me to close the door!” Stupid Yeonjun. Stupid Yeonjun and his unclear instructions. 

“Moron,” Soobin hears Yeonjun hiss irately. The hunter is trying to advance up to the demon but is having a hard time doing so in the small space of the bathroom all the while trying to avoid its rapid attacks. Nonetheless, he’s swift on his feet and is adept at fending for himself. After a while Soobin notices the demon’s tentacle-hand-thing slow. Yeonjun is little more than a few steps in front of it. When the time is right and the opening is given, all it would take is a lurch forward and a proper stab. The fight would be over.

 _Knock, knock, knock!_ Three rapid knocks on the door behind him, followed by a voice Soobin knows all too well.

“Hello? Is anyone in there?”

Beomgyu.

 _No, no, no, no, no_ , Soobin cries in his head. The boy is supposed to be in band practice. It makes sense that he would head for this restroom, seeing as the music room is on the same floor. But he can’t let Beomgyu know what’s happening in here, least of all _walk in_ and put himself in danger of being maimed. Soobin regards the scene before him with horror – one demon dressed as a janitor with a tentacle for a hand flailing about in the cramped space of the restroom, aiming for his (fake) boyfriend, who has a _knife_ and has been unceasingly dodging its attacks.

When he hears the knock, however, Yeonjun’s head whips abrubtly towards Soobin. His wide eyes make contact with the taller’s own petrified ones. This temporary moment of distraction proves to be a fatal flaw, as Soobin has barely even thought to cry “watch out!” when the demon’s swinging appendage flings into Yeonjun’s torso. It knocks the hunter off his feet and sends him crashing into one of the doors of the stalls. The grunt that leaves Yeonjun’s mouth is barely audible, but the resounding crash of the door being ripped off one of its hinges upon impact is loud and there’s absolutely no way Beomgyu didn’t hear it.

And sure enough, his muffled voice mutters, “Uh, I think I’ll just… go to the toilets upstairs.”

Soobin’s shoulders sag with relief.

“ _My lord_.”

But he really should know better than to ever be truly relieved in this story.

A coughing Yeonjun is lying on the grimy bathroom floor with his face contorted in pain, and Soobin can do little more than press his back further into the door behind him and stare with wide, terrified eyes as the demon approaches him with its unblinking black eyes and its one tentacle-hand dragging limply behind him in a trail of ichor. Last time, Soobin had a sword. He so desperately wishes he had a sword right now, because all he has at this very moment is himself in his useless 6'1" glory.

“Don’t come closer,” he mutters weakly.

“ _My lord_ ,” it says again, in that same language with those unfamiliar words Soobin can’t recognize but can somehow interpret. Its words are stiff, almost as though they were practiced or not quite its own. “ _I am an envoy of the Lord Belial_.”

Soobin swallows the fear lodged in his throat as he comes face-to-face with the demon. The wind speeds up and the lights begin to flicker above them. The demon begins hissing strangely, this time in a language that Soobin does not understand. The stall doors start slamming open and shut in a terrifying rhythm, but Soobin can barely hear it all past the blood and fear rushing in his ears.

Suddenly, the demon yelps. Its face goes very still, not a single muscle twitching. It then drops limply onto Soobin. As it does so, the boy finally sees the dagger sticking into the back of its head and the hand firmly gripping the hilt.

Yeonjun.

But Soobin can’t even be glad to see the hunter up and standing on his feet. He has dead demon all over him. Ichor drips from its head and onto him, seeping into the fabric of his school blazer.

When its lifeless body finally dissipates in a trail of dark smoke and off of him, Soobin slides to the floor.

And promptly passes out.

_Soobin is standing in the darkness again._

_Everywhere he looks, there is just black. He must be having a nightmare again, but there is something off-putting about this one._

_It’s silent. Eerily so._

_With a blink, he finds himself standing in the middle of a ballroom._

_It’s big and grand, with a polished floor that resembled one made out of ice as it reflected the shimmer of the golden walls and the light from the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. All around him, people are swaying and spinning to the music in gorgeous, perfectly tailored outfits._

_But where their eyes, noses and mouths are supposed to be, Soobin simply sees taut skin. They're faceless._

_“Is the music to your liking?”_

_The voice comes from beside him. It's lilting and pleasantly low, and faintly reminds Soobin of the sea. When he turns, he’s looking at a person with long champagne blonde hair. Half of their face is covered by a beautiful black[mask](http://img0110o.popscreencdn.com/155989749_classic-phantom-of-the-opera-venetian-masquerade-mask-.jpg) that has swirls of pale gold over it. The exposed half reveals pale skin, half of a set of doll-like pink lips and one black eye._

_No white._

_“I find Waltz in B minor to be one of Chopin’s finest works, truly.”_

_Soobin does not listen to Chopin. His favorite artist is Bebe Rexha, and that’s Choi Soobin Fact #16._

_“Something tells me you have questions for me.”_

_Soobin regards the demon before him – at their sleek black[outfit](https://image.s5a.com/is/image/saks/0400010866403_ASTL?wid=984&hei=1312&qlt=90&resMode=sharp2&op_usm=0.9,1.0,8,0), the jacket embellished with crystals in intricate patterns around the shoulders and the gorgeous gold filigree choker around their pale neck. The demon is intimidating in a way that lets you know of their power without so much as a flick of their finger, yet Soobin does not feel threatened. This demon isn’t like the ones he’s encountered before. The Lea imposter and janitor had struck fear in Soobin with their violent tendencies – with their inhuman growls and unsightly limbs. But this demon standing before him looks human. Beautiful, even. Soobin is unsettled by the enigma before him, but he does not feel scared. Perhaps because this is only a dream._

_The words slip out of his mouth before he can even think them through. “Who are you?”_

_The demon smiles. A pleasantly knowing one, as though it had been expecting those three words to tumble out of Soobin’s mouth anytime soon. “I have many names, yet not enough to truly encapsulate who I am. Your Bible names me Belphegor.”_

_Soobin has never heard of that name before._

_Choi Soobin Fact #17: He’s never read the Bible._

_“But to you, I think I shall be known by one more common in your tongue. Call me Yoongi. I am one of the seven Great Demons." They take a thoughtful pause, during which their eyes bore into Soobin's. "A_ _n ally of one you may know as Lucifer.”_

_Soobin has_ definitely _heard of that name before._ _“Lucifer?"_

_"Yes, Lucifer. Or Satan, as men more commonly refer to him."_

_Soobin's feels his Adam's apple bob. "_ _What does he want to do with me?”_

_Yoongi chuckles. “It’s less what he wants to do with you and more what he has to.”_

_The demon takes a step closer to him, who doesn’t pull away. A ringed index finger comes up to his forehead, hovering just above the skin._

_“And for now, he has asked me to give you a gift.”_

_Before Soobin can ask what this gift is, Yoongi taps their finger onto his forehead._

_The dream blurs and dissolves around him._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> say hello to nonbinary demon yoongi, who i am in love with


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